1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and process for producing slurry, and more particularly, to an apparatus and process for producing slurry that is adapted for the production of slurry consisting of coal fine powder and oil which is available as a fuel for boilers or the like.
As already known to those skilled in the art, coal in its natural state contains water.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a heretofore known apparatus for producing a coal/oil slurry, as shown in FIG. 1, lumpy coal stored in a coal bin 1 is fed to a mill 3 via a metering feeder 2, and within the mill 3 it is crushed and simultaneously dried under existence of a hot blast fed from a hot air feeder 4. The dried fine powder coal enters into a cyclone 5 as carried by the hot blast and is separated from the hot blast in the cyclone, while unseparated fine powder coal further enters into a bag filter 6 where it is collected. The dried fine powder coal separated in the cyclone 5 or collected by the bag filter 6 enters into a fine powder coal bunker 8 to be accumulated, and then is fed to a slurry mixing tank 12 by means of a fine powder coal feeder 9. Oil is fed to mixing tank 12 from an oil storage tank 10 by means of an oil feed pump 11, and the fine powder coal and the oil are stirred into slurry in the mixing tank 12 by means of a stirrer 13. The slurry is then transported to a slurry storage tank 15 by means of a slurry transport pump 14. In addition, reference numeral 7 designates a suction blower for aiding in the transfer of the fine powder coal.
The above-described apparatus in the prior art has a disadvantage that not only are the cyclone 5 or the bag filter 6 for separating or collecting fine powder coal great in size, resulting in increase in the cost of equipment and the area for their installation, but also a bridging phenomena may arise in the fine powder coal bunker 8, and dispersion of fine powder coal into the atmosphere is liable to occur. Therefore, handling of the fine powder coal, including separation, collection, transportation and storage is difficult.